Envelop-opener.



J. W. SINNOTT.

ENVELOP OPENER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 29, 1911.

1,032,865. Patented July 16, 1912.

WITNESSES INVENTOR A TTOR/VE V S COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH c0., WASHINGTON, D. c.

JOHN WARD SINNOTT, 0F GOLLINWOOI), OHIO.

ENVELOP-OPENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 16, 1912.

Application filed August 29, 1911. Serial No. 646,589.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN WV. SINNOTT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Collinwood, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a new and Improved EnvelopOpener, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of the present invention is to provide a simple tool for opening sealed envelops, and it contemplates a tool of this character having a guide slot or passage to receive the edge of the envelop to be opened with a knife or cutter located in the guide or passage way in position to engage beneath the flap as the envelop is moved along the guide or passage, or the tool is moved along the envelop.

It further consists of yielding means within the guide or passage to engage the envelop and insure its position therein so that the flap to be opened will be located for the engagement beneath the plane of the opening knife.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, constituting a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference denote corresponding parts in all the views and in which- Figure 1 shows a front view of an envelop opener embodying the present invention; Fig. 2 shows a top plan view; Fig. 3 shows a longitudinal sectional view taken on the dotted line 3-3 in Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows in that figure; and Fig. 1 shows a perspective view with the knife removed.

The device comprises a casing 1 preferably made of wood or other suitable material and cut away on one of its longest sides forming the guide or passage 2, and also cut out as shown at 3 from the front to the back of the casing at one end, thus producing two lips 4: united by a block 5. The front edge of the block 5 forms a gage 6 within the guide or passage 2 against which the edge of the envelop adjacent to the flap to be severed bears as the envelop is moved along the guide or passage 2. Within the cutaway portion 3 is a knife 7 attached thereto as by means of screws 8. The knife 7 has a cutting edge 9 and an entering point 10 which extends toward the middle of the easing 1 and positioned with its point slightly in front of the gage 6 as shown clearly in Fig. 3 of the drawing. The upper lip 4 is cut out at its rear edge at one end as shown at 10 whereby the screws 8 which hold the knife may be reached and removed or inserted as required to remove and replace the knife. The under lip & is cut away as shown at 11 forming a recess below the knife so that the knife may lie substantially in the plane of the lower wall of the guide or passage 2 with the blade slightly above the surface and in position to engage beneath the flap rest-ing thereon. The guide or passage 2 is somewhat wider than the thickness of the ordinary envelop or letter to be opened, and to insure that the flap to be engaged by the knife shall be forced in contact with the upper surface of the under lip 4- and within the guide or passage 2, there is provided a spring presser 12 formed of a strip of spring metal, which at one end passes through a slot 13 formed in the upper lip 4t, and is secured to the casing 1 as by means of the screws 14:. The presser 1.2 extends downwardly and inwardly, as shown, and at its lower end is upturned slightly as shown at 15 and is located closely adjacent to the point of the knife 7. Beneath the presser 12 is a spring support 16 also consisting of a piece of spring metal secured to the upper surface of the under lip t as by means of the screws 17 This spring support 16 extends into the space adjacent to the point of the knife 7 in a plane beneath the knife, but having the free end turned up slightly above the knife, the arrangement being such that the spring support 16 supports the edge of the envelop to be opened and presses it upwardly against the under surface of the knife.

In operation, the envelop as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3 is placed within the guide or passage 2 wit-l1 one of its longer edges resting against the gage 6; thereafter the opener is either moved along the edge of the envelop or the envelop moved along the guide or passage. The spring presser 12 forces the envelop against the upper surface of the lower lip 4 so that as it is moved along the point of the knife 7, will enter the space between the flap and the body of the envelop, whereupon a continued movement of the envelop in the same direction causes the cutting edge 9 of the knife to sever the flap.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent:

An envelop opener comprising a casing having a guide or passage extending along one face thereof, a pointed cutter reinovably secured in said casing and having its point located within the guide or passage, a spring presser for engaging the envelop adjacent the point of the knife, and a spring support located adjacent the point of the knife be- 10 10W the presser.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

JOHN WARD SINNOTT.

-Witnesses:

WVALTER 7E. SAFFORD, EARL L. GUN-N.

Copies of this patent may beobtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. 0. 

